WHY FLIES BUZZ

Why Flies Buzz

Retold by Rosie McCormick
Illustrated by Gail McIntosh

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One bright, sunny day, a man and his wife
went into the jungle to gather food. When
they reached a coconut tree, the man
took out his knife. The man climbed up the
tree to cut down some delicious coconuts.

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As the man
reached for a
coconut, a black
fly flitted around
his face. He tried
to swat the fly,
and dropped his
knife. “Watch out,
Wife!” he cried.

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The wife jumped out of the
way. As she jumped, she
kicked a crocodile that was
sleeping beneath the tree.

The angry crocodile’s tail
went—swack! swack! swack!

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Nearby, a jungle bird was
looking for bugs to eat. As
the crocodile’s tail came
down, the bird squawked—
scree! scree! scree!

The bird soared to a branch
in a tree and landed right next
to a monkey. The monkey was
peeling a juicy mango.

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The monkey, startled by the bird,
dropped his mango. It fell on the
head of a hippo—splat! splat! splat!

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The hippo thought he was being
attacked by hunters. He tried to
escape—stomp! stomp! stomp!

As he did, he trampled
on a bushfowl’s nest. The
nest was full of eggs.

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“My eggs are all broken!” wailed the
bushfowl. She began to cry—sob! sob!
sob! And there she stayed, beside her
nest, for many days and nights.

She did not awaken the sun with her
familiar call—kark! kark! kark! So the
sky remained dark for several days.

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The jungle animals were
worried. They went to talk
to the wise lion.

The lion gathered all the
animals together to find
out what had happened.

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Everyone blamed each other.

The last to speak was the man.
He said, “Wise Lion, I dropped
my knife because a black fly
was annoying me.”

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“Aha!” said the lion. “Then it is the black
fly’s fault!” said the lion. But the black fly
answered back. “Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!”
said the fly.

“Have you nothing else to say?” asked the
lion. The fly ignored the lion and continued
saying “buzz! Buzz! Buzz!”

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The lion was angry with the fly and
decided to punish him. “Black Fly!” he
bellowed. “Since you refuse to answer,
I shall take away your power to talk.”

The fly tried to speak, but all he could
say was, “Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!” To this day,
flies all around the world can only say,
“Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!”

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The bushfowl was satisfied. The fly
that had caused all the trouble had
been punished. And so she agreed
to once again call the sun to begin
the day.

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